Mini Halloween Butterfinger Cheesecakes
Happy Halloween to all of the ghouls and goblins out there on this spooooky day!
We just had our first snowstorm of the season so it’s a classic, chilly Colorado Halloween. When I was a kid, we almost always had to have a costume that could accommodate a winter coat – Or at least snow boots and layers of sweatpants under your costume. Even though I don’t dress up for Halloween much anymore, I still like decorating and making sweet treats.
I’ve never been a huge fan of scary stuff – I’m more of a silly and campy Halloween kinda girl – Think Beetlejuice and vintage Frankenstein. I love a good retro monster horror movie with some good jump scares sprinkled out along with some laughs.
And when I saw these teeny-tiny spooky cake decorations, they reminded me of those old school, ridiculously cheesy but awesome horror movies and I knew I had to make some sort of fun dessert with them.
I also knew I wanted to incorporate candy because you just gotta for Halloween. So I created these Mini Butterfinger Cheesecakes with Graham Cracker and Oreo crusts. They’re fun and simple and can be made ahead of time. They’re the perfect bite-sized treat for a party or just for enjoying while watching your favorite Halloween movie!
Eat well and enjoy!
This spooky and sweet treat is sure to be a hit at your Halloween party! These mini cheesecakes with Butterfinger candy pieces sit atop Oreo and Graham Cracker cookie crusts for a delightful and festive dessert.
- 6 whole graham crackers (crushed into crumbs)
- 2 tbsp butter (melted)
- 12 Oreo cookies (crushed into crumbs)
- 2 tbsp butter (melted)
- 8 oz full-fat cream cheese (room temperature)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 large egg (room temperature)
- 1/3 cup plain, full-fat yoghurt (room temperature)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 6 fun-size Butterfinger candy bars (chopped)
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar (more or less as needed)
- 1 - 3 tsp milk (more or less as needed)
- Red food coloring
Place 10 paper cupcake liners into a cupcake pan. You can bake in batches if you only have a cupcake pan with 6 spots. Lightly grease each cupcake liner. Set aside.
Before turning on your oven, position the racks so that one is on the very bottom rack trat the other is in the lower third of the oven.
Fill a glass baking dish with 1 to 1 ½ inches of cool water and place on the bottom oven rack.
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F
Place the Graham Crackers into a food processor or blender and pulse until you have crumbs. If you don’t have a food processor or blender, you can also place the crackers in a sealed plastic bag and crush using a rolling pin or mallet.
Place the crumbs in a small or medium bowl. Melt 2 Tbsp. butter and pour over the crumbs. Mix well with a fork until the crumbs are moist.
Repeat these steps with the Oreo cookies.
Spoon the Graham Cracker crumbs into 5 prepared cupcake papers, filling the papers about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom. Repeat this with the Oreo cookie crumbs and the remaining 5 prepared cupcake papers. Push the cookie crumbs into the bottom of the papers using the back of a spoon. Set aside.
Set the remaining cookie crumbs aside for decorating.
In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese on low to medium speed until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides as needed. Add the sugar and beat on low to medium speed until smooth. Next, stir in the yoghurt using a spatula.
In a separate bowl, lightly whisk the egg just until the white and yolk come together and the mixture is yellow.
Add the beaten egg and vanilla to the cream cheese mixture and stir just until combined.
Gently fold in about half of the chopped Butterfinger bars.
Divide the mixture evenly among the 10 prepared cupcake papers.
Bake on the middle oven rack for 14 to 20 minutes, or until the cheesecakes no longer looks wet but the center still jiggles.
Turn off the oven and crack open the door 1 to 2 inches. Let the cheesecakes rest in the warm oven for 10 minutes.
Remove the cheesecakes from the oven and set on a cooling rack. Let cool at room temperature for about 45 minutes and then let cool in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before decorating and serving.
*NOTE: If you are going to remove the cupcake papers, do so AFTER the cheesecakes have chilled in the refrigerator. If they are too warm, there is risk of the cheesecakes falling apart when you remove the papers.Mix the powdered sugar and milk, 1 tsp. at a time, in a small bowl. Add more milk as necessary to obtain the necessary consistency to be able to drizzle the icing. If it becomes too thin, you can add more powdered sugar.
Add 1 to 3 drops of red food coloring and mix well. Set aside.
*NOTE: If you aren’t going to use this right away, cover with a moist paper towel to keep from drying out.Once the cheesecakes are completely cool, spoon some of the remaining Oreo cookie crumbs on top of the Oreo crust cheesecakes. Top with fun and edible Halloween graveyard decorations, gummy worms, etc.
Drizzle the red icing over the Graham Cracker crust cheesecakes and top with fun and edible Halloween decorations. You can also sprinkle any leftover crush Butterfinger candy over the top.
Place the mini cheesecakes back into the refrigerator, covered, until ready to serve.